You all have my permission to seriously beat me for making you wait this long.

I am so sorry this took so long to update. Life got in the way on top of severe writier's block on this story. I am still not completely happy with this chapter and it is very much a filler chapter, as will the next couple be until the they reach the estate. I hope you enjoy this and I will really try not to wait another year before updating this again. I am in the middle of changing colleges and majors as well as working on a novel that I hope to publish if I ever finish it. That said, I hope you enjoy this chapter and please leave a review.

Also, if anyone likes Phantom of the Opera, I have several stories in progress for that as well. If anyone is interested, I hope you will read and review those as well.

Enough of the A/N...onto the story...

...0000...

"Where do you want this, John?"

The sound of movement followed by a crash and a muffled exclamation were the only answer. Brandon couldn't help but smile to himself. It seemed like his friend was having a bit of difficulty. "Do you need any help back there?"

"You could say that." came the stiff reply.

Shaking his head, the attorney went around to the other side of the carriage from which the voice had come. "What seems to be the matter-"

His sentence was left hanging when he encountered the captain laying on the ground, covered by packages of all sorts and sizes. A rather large trunk set near his feet, the lid had come ajar and it's contents were strewn across the ground. Only John's head was visible under all of the belongings and the look on his face was anything but amused.

Brandon placed a hand over his mouth to suppress the laughter he felt bubbling up within him.

Unfortunately this only seemed to fuel John's fury even more. "I'm glad you find this so funny."

His friend's eyes were closed and he was shaking form silent laughter. "My apologies, John. Are you alright?"

He scowled. "Once I get these things off of me. Can I get some help please?"

"Oh. Of course." With eyes lit with humor, Brandon hurried to the captain's side and began to dismantle the mountain of parcels that had his friend trapped. Even though they didn't look it, the a few of the packages were quite heavy and proved to be difficult for even the attorney to left. "Geez, John. You've got yourself wedged in here pretty tight, don't you?"

John rolled his eyes. "I hadn't noticed."

Brandon looked up from his task and glanced in his friend's direction. "Now is not exactly the best time to enlighten me with your sarcasm, my friend. Remember, I could just leave you here."

"And then you would have to answer to my wife." John held a triumphant grin on his face. "Pocahontas may seem harmless, but she has more bite in her than you may think."

"I have no doubt." Brandon placed his hands on his hips. "I was here to witness your lovely argument a few weeks ago, don't you remember?"

"How could I forget." John grumbled. "I was sure she was never letting me back into the house again."

Brandon said nothing, only smirked and once again began his task of freeing the captain.

John attempted to look at his progress. "Are you almost done? We have to get going."

His friend snorted. "You could help, you know?"

"Ha!" The captain gave an ironic laugh. "And how would you have me do that? The only part of my body I can move is my head."

"John, it's ninety percent clothes."

"It's women's clothing. With all of the different layers for the amount of time we're planning on being away, there is a lot of it. And it's heavy." She shook his head. "Now I understand why women are always complaining of being overly warm during the summer."

"Perhaps." Brandon shook his head. "I still want to know how you got all of this into a single trunk. This amount of clothing would last me three months."

John attempted his best shrug. "Ask my lovely wife. She's the one who did most of our packing."

Before he could reply, the women came darting out of the house, frantic looks on both of their faces. "We were inside when we heard the crash. What happened out here?" Pocahontas asked as she came around the side of the carriage. "Is everything all rig-"

Her words were cut off at the sight of her husband sprawled on the ground, only his head visible beneath the mountain of packages and petticoats. Brandon knelt off to the side, no doubt trying to free his poor friend from his trap.

She heard Amy snicker behind her and something inside of her snapped.

She felt her slack jaw tighten and a smile beginning.

She saw her husband shoot her a warning glance, but she was powerless to stop the laughter that sprang forth from her lips.

John rolled his eyes. "Why does everyone find this situation so funny? I can guarantee that if it were somehow reversed that you would lack this sense of morbid humor."

Pocahontas came to kneel at his head. "I'm sorry, my love." She leaned down to kiss him. "We can't help it."

John looked up at her, still un-amused. "Can you please just get these thing off of me? We're already falling behind schedule and I know how my father is with time. We are expected there in two days and if we do not make it in that time frame, there shall be no end to his complaints."

His wife said nothing, only came around to the other side to help Brandon and Amy clear a way for John to wriggle himself free. Once he was out, the four of them quickly tried to re-pack the trunk that had fallen.

Brandon wiped the beads of sweat form his forehead under the bright morning son. "Pocahontas, I have to ask. How in the world did you fit all of these things into one trunk?"

She shrugged. "It's not that much. Only about eight dresses."

"Only eight?" His eyes were wide.

She nodded. "Plus a few nightgowns."

He shook his head and glanced at Amy. "Why do you always feel the need to take half your wardrobe with you whenever we visit my parents?"

Amy looked up in surprise. "How did this become about me?"

"Well it's true." Brandon finished trying the knot he was working on and came to stand across from his wife. "We go away for the weekend, you bring three trunks this size. John and Pocahontas have no idea how long they are going to be away and she only takes one. Somehow I fail to see the correlation."

Pocahontas glanced over in time to see Amy looking ready to seriously injure her husband and shook her head. "He's in trouble." she said to herself.

"What was that?" John had just come around to her side of the carriage in time to hear her soft comment.

She nodded in the direction of their friends, now involved in an 'heated debate' as they called it. "Just a lover's quarrel." She turned her attention back to her husband who was now securing another bag to the top of their carriage. "How are you?"

He looked up. "Excuse me?"

"Are you hurt? I never asked you if you injured yourself when the trunk fell and you were trapped under all of those things."

He jumped down and drew her into his arms. "I'm quite fine, thank you. How are you doing?"

She looked up at him, confusion in her dark eyes. "What do mean?"

He chuckled. "Pocahontas, you're forty-eight hours away from meeting my family-your family. You can't tell me you aren't nervous."

Sometimes it baffled her how well he knew her. "I'm fine."

John cocked his head and lifted a brow. "No you're not. I know you too well, mi amor." She felt a spine tingle when she heard his Spanish. "You put on a front, trying to act calm and collected, when in reality you're on pins and needles."

She withdrew from his grasp and crossed her arms over her chest. "I just can't help but feel like everything will be all right as you say it will be. John's for these past few weeks, all I've done is eat, sleep, and breathe English etiquette. I've memorized china patterns, I've learned more of another language that I ever thought possible and I can practically do the waltz in my sleep! I should be perfectly prepared, but I'm not and I don't know why." She took a seat on a nearby bench and looked up at him. "That is what scares me."

He knelt in front of her on the bench and took her hands. "Pocahontas, look at me."

She did.

"I could not be prouder of you." His eyes held sincerity and pleaded with her to believe him. "You have put so much effort and have been so supportive of me through this and for that I can not thank you enough. Please don't worry about being ready. You have to remember that I grew up with all of this. My family will not expect perfection, especially once they see…." He searched for the right word.

Pocahontas couldn't help but smile. "That I am different."

A sheepish grin crossed her husband's face and she placed a hand alongside his cheek. "I wasn't going to put it exactly in those words, but, yes. In a sense. Pocahontas, don't you see?" He moved to sit next to her on the stone bench. "My family will love you. Simply because I do. And I do love you, Pocahontas. More than you will ever know."

"Oh, John…." She kissed him softly and then leant against him, allowing her eyes to close in the sweet bliss of his embrace. "I don't know what I would ever do without you. You are what makes me whole."

She felt him tighten his arms around her and felt the beat of his hear against her ear. "I cans till remember the night that you came to see me after I was captured by your father." His voice was low, full of reminiscent thoughts. "It was just after our first kiss and somehow I knew that I was hopelessly, deeply, passionately in love with you." She lifted her head and he smiled down at her. "I didn't know if I would ever see you again after that night. I knew I had to tell you what was going on inside of me and yet I couldn't fully explain it myself." He shook his head. "Even though I was afraid, you comforted me."

She shook her head. "You have no idea how terrified I was that night. I knew my father. He never was merciful on any prisoner. He had every intention of killing you that next morning. You never knew this, but I went to him to beg for mercy, to beg him to spare your life. But he would hear none of it." She met his gaze. "He was still very angry at me for not obeying his orders to stay inside the village."

"This was after you came to me?"

Pocahontas nodded. "I was so confused, I went to Grandmother Willow and sat for hours until sunrise."

John brought a hand to the back of his head. "And of course we all know what happened then."

"Yes, we do." She reached to bring his hand back to hers. "And for the next few years, both of our lives were chaos. You were in England recovering form your wound, I was waiting for you to return and finally that whole ordeal with John Rolfe." She met his eyes. "Honestly John, I never thought that we would ever be sitting here like this, living as husband and wife, something that we've both dreamed of for so long. We've only begun our life together. I don't want anything to ruin what we've worked so hard to achieve."

John shifted on the bench. "Pocahontas, despite the hurdles we have faced, has it not all worked out for the greater good?"

She nodded. "It has."

"You're right." He lifted her hand to his lips and hissed it. "We've made it through the fire many times. Look at it this way, love. Compared to everything else that's happened in our lives, this will be a piece of cake."

She laughed. "Let's hope so."

"Everything ready to go?" The couple looked up to see Brandon and Amy standing before them, apparently having resumed their argument and now stood hand in hand.

Pocahontas and John exchanged a look and stood, brushing the dust from the bench from their clothing. "Just about. Do the two of you have everything packed?" John asked.

"Wait." Pocahontas narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean 'are they packed'? They're going with us?"

John smiled and placed an arm around his wife. "Well, not all the way. Brandon's parents don't live too far from mine, so when I told him about the letter, they asked to join us until we reached their estate."

Amy nodded. "We'll be staying the night there and the next day you and John will leave to go to your in-laws."

A smile of joy crossed the native woman's face. She wasn't going to be all alone in the journey after all! She moved to give her friend a hug. "I'm so glad you're coming!"

Their husbands watched with mild interest as the women chattered excitedly. "Ladies." Brandon cut in. "We're glad you're happy about this, but time is of the essence."

John nodded. "It's time, my friends. Let's get moving. We have a lot of ground to cover before tomorrow night."

Pocahontas and Amy climbed into the carriage and John closed the door. He met her gaze and squeezed her hand in reassurance. Pocahontas smiled at him, silently thanking God above for this wonderful man who she knew would stand by her come what may